Drawing Near: Volkswagen Arteon To Replace CC

Tony Markovich

Nov 28, 2016

THE MANUFACTURER

THE MANUFACTURER

The replacement for the Volkswagen CC won’t make its debut for another three months, when the Geneva auto show gets underway, but the hype machine is already churning. With a short video teaser, Volkswagen gave a glimpse at a sketch of the new “four-door fastback” and revealed its name: Arteon.

As expected, the car in the sketch looks nearly identical to the Volkswagen Sport Coupe Concept GTE, the plug-in-hybrid show car that made its debut at the 2015 Geneva auto show. It furthers the CC’s streamlined coupe exterior with an even more athletic stance, a more severely sloped roofline, and a “wholly new” front end with a grille that bleeds into the headlights and looks awfully similar to the front end of the Aston Martin Lagonda Taraf.

The car will sit above the Passat in the VW lineup as an all-new model and is expected to be a bit longer than the current CC. Arteon might sound like the name of a Greek god, but it’s actually a simple pairing. “Art” literally indicates art (“harmonious lines and emotionality”), and “eon” is Volkswagen’s indication of a premium model (see: Phideon). VW claims that, despite its sporting shape, the car will retain usefulness thanks to a hatchback rear rather than a trunk, as on the CC. So far, there’s no word whether the production model will have any of the hybrid tech offered in the Sport Coupe Concept PHEV.

After showing its face for the first time next year in March, the Arteon will go on sale next summer.